"That was a sh*t show."

The above quote is from CNN's Dana Bash, speaking for pretty much all of America last night after what was nearly unanimously viewed as the wildest, weirdest, and worst presidential debate in televised history. 

President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden spent virtually every minute on stage Tuesday evening interrupting and talking over each other, as moderator Chris Wallace desperately attempted to maintain some semblance of control. 

Bash's colleague Wolf Blitzer kicked off CNN's post-debate commentary by calling the debate the "most chaotic" he or America had ever seen.

Jake Tapper agreed, calling it “a hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside of a train wreck," "the worst debate I have ever seen," and "a disgrace."

But it was Bash who had the descriptive phrase that perfectly summed up the evening. 

“That is really the phrase I’m getting from people on both sides of the aisle on text and it’s the only phrase I can think of to describe it,” Bash explained. 

She also said that the people who were "hurt the most" by the disastrous debate were the undecided voters who got a "bad reality show" instead of any substantive discussion of the issues. 

Watch, and nod along in depressed solidarity with Bash, here. 

Criticism of the chaotic and combative debate has been pouring in from both sides of the aisle with lots of ire focused on moderator Chris Wallace -- but as Mediaite's Colby Hall argued today, there's only so much a moderator constrained by the limited structure provided by the Commission on Presidential Debates can do.

In fact, the criticism grew so quickly and loudly that the CPD responded Wednesday, issuing a statement that "additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues," and that they would be announcing these "additional tools" shortly. 

Still, any changes to the debate formats will have to be approved by both campaigns, no easy task at any time, and even less so considering the heightened tensions as the November 3 election looms ever closer. 

The diehard partisan supporters of both candidates made up their minds long ago, and the fate of the election likely belongs to the undecided voters. But what did last night offer them as they seek to make their decisions? Policy discussions were few and far between, and often obscured by crosstalk, interruptions, and insults. 

Every recent election has been described as the "most important in our lifetimes!" -- a phrase that often sounds a bit histrionic -- but it is an important decision, and last night America lost out on an opportunity to hear from these candidates.